diff --git a/allowlists/.gitignore b/allowlists/.gitignore
deleted file mode 100644
index 57d81ac..0000000
--- a/allowlists/.gitignore
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-# Ignore everything in this directory
-*
-# Except this file
-!.gitignore
-# ... And some others
-!/allowlist.domains.example
diff --git a/allowlists/allowlist.domains.example b/allowlists/allowlist.domains.example
deleted file mode 100644
index 923103e..0000000
--- a/allowlists/allowlist.domains.example
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,8 +0,0 @@
-# Omit these domains from the blocklist.
-#
-# Must be in a file called *.domains in this directory.
-# Comments are allowed. One domain per line.
-#
-# Examples:
-# domain1.example.com
-# domain2.example.com
diff --git a/make-block.pl b/make-block.pl
index 1ac0d8a..43d2fd1 100755
--- a/make-block.pl
+++ b/make-block.pl
@@ -23,10 +23,15 @@ use FindBin qw//;
 my %domains;
 my $dupes = 0;
 my $skip = 0;
-my $removed_allowed = 0;
 sub add_domain_list {
     my $file = shift;
-    foreach my $line (&read_stripped($file)) {
+
+    open my $fni, '<', $file
+        or die "Failed to open file $file for reading: $!";
+
+    foreach my $line (<$fni>) {
+        chomp $line;
+        $line =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//;
         my $domain = lc $line;
         ++$dupes if defined $domains{$domain};
         $domains{$domain} = 1;
@@ -35,7 +40,15 @@ sub add_domain_list {
 
 sub add_host_file {
     my $file = shift;
-    foreach my $line (&read_stripped($file)) {
+
+    open my $fni, '<', $file
+        or die "Failed to open file $file for reading: $!";
+
+    foreach my $line (<$fni>) {
+        chomp $line;
+        # strip whitespace and comments
+        $line =~ s/^\s+|\s+$|\s*#.*$//;
+        next unless $line;
         my @parts = split /\s+/, $line;
         die "Malformed line in $file: $line; @parts"
             unless @parts > 1;
@@ -53,20 +66,6 @@ sub add_host_file {
     }
 }
 
-sub read_stripped {
-    my $file = shift;
-
-    open my $fni, '<', $file
-        or die "Failed to open file $file for reading: $!";
-
-    map {
-        chomp;
-        # Strip whitespace and comments
-        s/^\s+|\s+$|\s*#.*$//;
-        $_ || ()
-    } <$fni>;
-}
-
 MAIN: {
     my $out;
     my $block_ip = '0.0.0.0 ::1';
@@ -83,7 +82,6 @@ MAIN: {
 
     my @domain_lists = glob "$workdir/lists/*.domains";
     my @hosts_lists = glob "$workdir/lists/*.hosts";
-    my @allow_lists = glob "$workdir/allowlists/*.domains";
 
     foreach my $listfile (@domain_lists) {
         &add_domain_list($listfile);
@@ -92,16 +90,6 @@ MAIN: {
         &add_host_file($hostfile);
     }
 
-    # Apply allowlists
-    my @allow_domains;
-    foreach my $allowlist (@allow_lists) {
-        push @allow_domains, &read_stripped($allowlist);
-    }
-    my $before = %domains;
-    delete %domains{@allow_domains};
-    # Count number removed
-    $removed_allowed = $before - %domains;
-
     my $written = 0;
     my $fho = \*STDOUT;
     if (defined $out && length $out) {
@@ -121,6 +109,5 @@ MAIN: {
     printf STDERR " - %d .domains files\n", (scalar @domain_lists);
     printf STDERR " - %d .hosts files\n", (scalar @hosts_lists);
     printf STDERR "(%d duplicates)\n", $dupes if $dupes;
-    printf STDERR "(%d domains removed via allowlist)\n", $removed_allowed if $removed_allowed;
     printf STDERR "(%d skipped)\n", $skip if $skip;
 }
diff --git a/update.sh b/update.sh
index 14d7a95..81b68f5 100755
--- a/update.sh
+++ b/update.sh
@@ -36,34 +36,6 @@ cleanup() {
 }
 trap 'cleanup' EXIT
 
-copy_perms() {
-    local -r FROM=$1 TO=$2
-    chmod --reference="$FROM" -- "$TO"
-    if [[ $UID -eq 0 ]]; then
-        chown --reference="$FROM" -- "$TO"
-    fi
-}
-
-replace_with() {
-    local -r ORIG=$1 NEW=$2
-    if ! diff -q -- "$ORIG" "$NEW" &>/dev/null; then
-        # There's a change
-        if [[ -f $ORIG ]]; then
-            copy_perms "$ORIG" "$NEW"
-            if [[ -n $BACKUPSUFFIX ]]; then
-                mv -- "$ORIG" "$ORIG$BACKUPSUFFIX"
-            fi
-        else
-            mkdir -p -- "${ORIG%/*}"
-        fi
-        mv -- "$NEW" "$ORIG"
-    else
-        printf 'File "%s" not modified\n' \
-            "$ORIG" \
-            >&2
-    fi
-}
-
 (cd "$WORKDIR" && git submodule update --init --remote)
 
 for (( I = 0 ; I < ${#OUT[@]} ; ++I )); do
@@ -80,16 +52,44 @@ for (( I = 0 ; I < ${#OUT[@]} ; ++I )); do
 
     TEMP_OUT=$(mktemp -p "$TEMP_DIR")
 
+    if [[ -f $MY_OUT ]]; then
+        cp -a -- "$MY_OUT" "$TEMP_OUT"
+    fi
+
     wget \
         -O "$TEMP_OUT" \
         "$MY_URL"
 
-    replace_with "$MY_OUT" "$TEMP_OUT"
+    if [[ -f $MY_OUT ]]; then
+        chmod --reference="$MY_OUT" "$TEMP_OUT"
+        if [[ -n $BACKUPSUFFIX ]]; then
+            mv -- "$MY_OUT" "$MY_OUT$BACKUPSUFFIX"
+        fi
+    fi
+
+    mkdir -p -- "${MY_OUT%/*}"
+    mv -- "$TEMP_OUT" "$MY_OUT"
+
+    # If the old one is the same, don't keep it around
+    if [[ -n $BACKUPSUFFIX && -f $MY_OUT$BACKUPSUFFIX ]]; then
+        if diff -q "$MY_OUT" "$MY_OUT$BACKUPSUFFIX"; then
+            rm -f -- "$MY_OUT$BACKUPSUFFIX"
+        fi
+    fi
+
 done
 
-TEMP_BLOCKLIST=$(mktemp -p "$TEMP_DIR")
-"$WORKDIR/make-block.pl" --out="$TEMP_BLOCKLIST"
-replace_with "$BLOCKLIST" "$TEMP_BLOCKLIST"
+if [[ -n $BACKUPSUFFIX && -f $BLOCKLIST ]]; then
+    mv -- "$BLOCKLIST" "$BLOCKLIST$BACKUPSUFFIX"
+fi
+"$WORKDIR/make-block.pl" --out="$BLOCKLIST"
+
+# If the old one is the same the same, don't keep it around
+if [[ -n $BACKUPSUFFIX && -f $BLOCKLIST$BACKUPSUFFIX ]]; then
+    if diff -q "$BLOCKLIST" "$BLOCKLIST$BACKUPSUFFIX"; then
+        rm -f -- "$BLOCKLIST$BACKUPSUFFIX"
+    fi
+fi
 
 if [[ ${#DNSMASQ_RESTART_COMMAND[@]} -gt 0 ]]; then
     "${DNSMASQ_RESTART_COMMAND[@]}"